


One Night a year, We hide our Masks

by Merelymine



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-15
Updated: 2009-12-15
Packaged: 2017-10-04 11:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merelymine/pseuds/Merelymine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first time in years that he hasn't been in Gotham on Halloween.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Night a year, We hide our Masks

Halloween night in Gotham is pretty much like Gotham on any other night of the year, but with the volume turned up to eleven.  Tim knows from his years as Robin that it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a long night full of gang fights, robberies, and hostage situations.  Every year Tim has gone home bandaged and bruised and exhausted, swearing that this year is worse than the last.

This is the first Halloween in years that he hasn’t been in Gotham, and he finds himself almost wishing he was there because hanging out at Titans Tower on Halloween is another sort of crazy entirely.

Apparently everyone thought it would be a good idea to throw a party this year, and instead of dressing in traditional costumes like vampires and zombies and fairy tale characters that look like prostitutes, everyone had to come dressed as their favorite superhero.

Tim manages to sneak in without anybody noticing him, and stands in a corner of the room so he can watch his friends.  He shifts on his feet, suddenly feeling a little silly in his costume, crossing his arms and completely failing to hide under his cape because he’s not actually wearing it. Instead he’s wearing an awful lot of blue, including a full cowl and big yellow goggles.  Little Tim Drake may have been obsessed with Batman and Robin, but the Blue Beetle had always been Tim’s favorite superhero.

The party seems to be going well.  It’s loud and boisterous and everyone seems to be having a really good time. Someone has decorated the place for Halloween, all orange and black streamers and fake spider webs and about a hundred different jack-o-lanterns.  There are Titans here from years of different teams, all mingling together and having a good time, and Tim has to admit it’s good to see.

To be honest he hadn’t planned on showing up at first.  He’s not a Titan anymore, for one thing, and for another the work he’s been doing is important and no one else is going to do it for him.  No one else is going to find Bruce. But Bart had asked him repeatedly, insisting that Tim could use a break.  He showed up several times in different parts of Europe as Kid Flash just to ask him, big gold eyes round and pleading and Tim figured he’d be better off if he just agreed to go.  At least that way he could get his work done in peace for a few more days.

He spots a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, though it’s hard to tell who some of them are because of the masks.  Some of them are easy to spot, though.

For instance Cassie is, predictably, dressed as Wonder Woman.  She really looks amazing, in a costume that she probably borrowed from Diana herself and a long dark wig.  Kon is following her around like a puppy, wearing what looks like the second version of his own costume, and Tim can’t help but laugh.  Of course Kon is his own favorite superhero.

If he were in Gotham right now he would undoubtedly have already sustained at least some sort of minor injury.  If he was in Paris, or some other part of Europe, he would be all alone.  At least this way he feels like he’s a part of something, dressed up in a different costume and feeling something strangely like normal.  He’s getting ready to actually move out of his corner, go out into the crowd and start to mingle with people, when a gust of air rushes past him, doubling back in a WOOSH that coalesces into Kid Flash.

“You came! You’rehereIdidn’tthinkyou’dcome!” Bart says, squeezing him into a tight hug.  Tim has to do a double-take when he pulls away, because it takes him a second to recognize his costume.

“Plastic man?” Tim asks, gesturing at his outfit, a one piece lace-up red leotard with a belt and a pair of big sunglasses.

“What—oh, yeah!” Bart says.  There’s a tuft of brown hair peeking out from underneath the plastic molded wig he managed to find, and he’s smiling, happy and flushed. “He’s pretty awesome you know.” He frowns, wiggling his fingers.  “I can’t stretch, though.”

“There are a lot of people here.”

“Yeah! It’s been a pretty good turnout,” Bart agrees.

Jaime waves at him from across the room, giving him a thumbs up for his costume.  He’s dressed as Superman, but Tim would bet it was a pretty hard decision for him to make.  Tim waves back, looking out at this big group of friends, all familiar faces happy and bright and alive.  He grins at Bart, and says, “You know, I’m really glad I decided to come.”

“Good!  Now come on, you can’t stand in the corner all night,” Bart says, taking his hand.  Tim lets himself be dragged away, into the crowd.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @ [merelymine](http://merelymine.tumblr.com)


End file.
